Tablets may be getting the buzz, but don’t give up on netbooks just yet. Netbook manufacturers are including more features, bigger screens and keyboards, and faster parts. We walk you through the latest trends and tell you what features really matter in a netbook.

1. January 4, 2012
batteryfast.co.uk
Latest Netbook Shopping Tips
T
ablets may be getting the buzz, but don’t give of netbooks have evolved to include more features,
up on netbooks just yet. Netbook manufac- bigger screens and keyboards, and faster parts—all
turers are including more features, bigger while slashing prices like a Walmart special.
screens and keyboards, and faster parts. We walk
you through the latest trends and tell you what fea- Even though new netbooks aren’t launching at a
tures really matter in a netbook. torrid pace, like they were a year ago, the choices
are still mind boggling. They’re available from all
sorts of household names, such as ASUS, Samsung,
Sony, Toshiba, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. As a category,
netbooks are such a diverse group that it’s hard to
come up with a single, all-encompassing definition.
The best indicators that you’re dealing with a net-
book are a low price, light weight, and low-powered
components. It’s likely the system will have a screen
on the smaller side and a basic feature set. Still, net-
books vary in screen size, typing experience, and
specialty features. On the component side, AMD
and Intel are silently going at it, though neither has
launched any new chips in a while. Despite their
current state, there are certainly enough netbooks
that warrant further explanation. Luckily, this net-
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/latest-netbook-shopping-tips/
book buying guide does just that.
The first batch of netbooks to hit the scene was
greeted with awe and surprise. Those tiny laptops,
which were once sold at a premium, could be had
for half the price of a typical system seemed incre-
dible. Since then, netbooks have taken a backseat to
tablets, as the Apple iPad and countless “me-toos”
have caused a lull in their production. Furthermore,
full size laptops, which used to cost twice as much
as netbooks, are now competing in this price range.
But that doesn’t mean demand for netbooks have
fizzled out completely. Sure, the stakes have risen,
and netbooks manufacturers are now vying for a
spot in a very tight space, which is why the latest crop
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2. January 4, 2012
batteryfast.co.uk
Latest Netbook Shopping Tips
Larger Screens, Bigger Keyboards capabilities. You’re also more likely to find 3GB-4GB
It’s generally easy enough to tell a netbook from memory configuration in AMD netbooks than from
other laptops, but to distinguish between systems, Intel ones. The AMD E-350 APU, for instance, can
you’ll need to do a little homework. In the past, be found in the Lenovo Ideapad S205, Acer Aspire
screen sizes defaulted to 10-inches with 1,024-by- One 722-BZ480, and HP dm1z.
600 resolutions on almost every single netbook.
These days, netbooks are breaking away from this Intel is already into its fourth generation of Atom
trend. Oversized netbooks like the HP Pavilion processors, the most recent of which are the 1.6GHz
dm1z and Lenovo ThinkPad X120e are sold with Intel Atom N455 and the 1.83GHz Intel Atom N475.
11.6-inch widescreens, while the Lenovo IdeaPad These are single-core processors that have been
S12 (Ion) and the Asus EeePC 1215B are shipping updated with DDR3 memory support. The dual-core
with 12-inch ones. And their resolutions, as a result, version—the 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550—can already
are upped to HD-capable ones (1,366-by-768). be found in a handful of netbooks, and improves
performance by up to 20% over the single-core
Once upon a time, full-sized keyboards were few Atoms, without impacting battery life.
and far between, but now they exist in netbooks as
small as 10-inches. Case in point: The Toshiba mini
NB305-N600, Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3, and Acer As-
pire One D260-1270squeezed one in to their 10-inch
frames. Since the vast majority of newer netbooks
are launching with bigger screens (11-12-inches),
a full size keyboard is guaranteed.
Usual Array of Features, Some Exceptions
Most netbooks provide an abundance of USB ports,
Webcams, card readers, and built-in Wi-Fi. What
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/latest-netbook-shopping-tips/
they usually don’t come with is an optical drive.
Some, like the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t and Dell Inspi-
ron Duo, are convertible tablets that have a touchs-
creen on a rotating hinge. Bluetooth is a frequently What to Consider
bundled feature in netbooks, while embedded 3G Standard netbook batteries start with 3-cell (less
modems, which can use cellular signals to acquire than 30Wh) units, but many netbooks are now
broadband speeds, can be found in the HP Mini standardizing on 6-cell batteries. Our battery tests
5103 and Dell Inspiron Mini 10 (HD). have shown that the smaller batteries will get you
anywhere from 2 to 3 hours of battery life on a single
Atom Platform, Mostly charge, while the bigger ones range between 7 to
It used to be that the Intel Atom platform, made 10 hours. If your activities include trips abroad and
up of the Atom processor, integrated graphics, and all-day classes, consider looking for netbooks that
memory (usually 1GB), was the most widely used ship with 6-cell options. You’ll also find two hard
in a netbook. Now AMD, with its latest Fusion APUs, drive choices: solid-state drives (SSDs) and spinning
has become a big presence in this space. Not only hard drives. The consensus is that spinning drives
are AMD APUs faster any given Atom processor, but offer the best gigabyte-per-dollar ratio, and most
they’re as battery efficient and have better graphics of them start with at least 250GB of storage space.
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3. January 4, 2012
batteryfast.co.uk
Latest Netbook Shopping Tips
While SSDs have faster transfer speeds, are durable,
and have longer life spans, they command much
higher premiums than their spinning counterparts.
In an extreme case, upgrading to a 128GB SSD in
the HP 5103 will cost you an additional $400, more
than the entire price of our review system.
What You Can Do With Them
Don’t underestimate the capabilities of these ma-
chines. Netbooks are not just limited to Web surfing,
compiling spreadsheets, or word processing. You
can offload your photos from a digital camera and
edit them using a program like Adobe Photoshop
Elements 9. With lots of patience, you can transcode
video to another format using Windows Media En-
coder 11 or edit video footage using Adobe Premiere
Elements 9, or run your entire music library off of
a program like Apple iTunes. A netbook can play
video from sites like YouTube or a movie from an
external USB drive, unmarred by distortions and
lag. Businesses, too, are considering these pint-size
laptops because you can run various e-mail clients,
put them on a network, install a VPN client, and
secure them with antivirus and antispyware suites.
At the price points we’re seeing in the netbook mar-
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/battery-technology/latest-netbook-shopping-tips/
ket—namely $300 to $500—sex appeal isn’t off limits
either on a netbook. The HP 5103 has a sleek-looking
aluminum frame, while the Toshiba NB305-N600
uses colors and textures in its favor. Though the
future of netbooks remains a big question mark,
what with the tablet boom and full size laptops that
can be had for about the same price, the demand
for them has not fizzled. There’s a wide selection
for those who want a pint-sized laptop that won’t
cost them an arm and a leg.
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